1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to an in-vehicle lever switch device that is used as a turn signal switch, a wiper switch, or the like of an automobile, and more particularly, to an in-vehicle lever switch device that includes two rotating knobs near an end of a cylindrical lever body capable of swinging.
2. Description of the Related Art
In this kind of in-vehicle lever switch device, a cylindrical lever body protrudes from a housing fixed to a steering column or the like, the cylindrical lever body can swing in two operating planes substantially orthogonal to each other, and two rotating knobs, which are exposed to the outside near the end of the cylindrical lever body, can be rotated independently. Further, it is possible to turn on, for example, a turn signal switch or a wiper switch by swinging the cylindrical lever body, and to turn on, for example, a switch for a fog lamp or a switch for a rear wiper by rotating each of the rotating knobs along a plane orthogonal to the axial direction of the cylindrical lever body. If two rotating knobs are disposed near the end of the cylindrical lever body as described above, it is easy to accurately perform various kinds of input operations. Accordingly, it is easy to provide the lever switch device with multiple functions.
Meanwhile, the in-vehicle lever switch device, which includes two rotating knobs near the end of the cylindrical lever body, needs to be provided with rotation detecting mechanisms such as rotary switch mechanisms at two portions in order to detect the rotation of each of the rotating knobs. Since a circuit board is essential to such a rotation detecting mechanism, for example, it is considered that two circuit boards, corresponding to two rotating knobs, are used or inner and outer peripheral portions of one large circuit board are used as rotation detecting regions for the two rotating knobs, respectively. However, when two circuit boards or one large circuit board is assembled in the interior space of the cylindrical lever body or the like of the lever switch device as described above, there is a drawback in that there is an overall increase in the size of the device.
Accordingly, in the past, there has been proposed an in-vehicle lever switch device where contact patterns are formed on one main surface (for example, front surface) and the other main surface (for example, back surface) of one circuit board and two movable contacts, which individually rotate while interlocking with the two rotating knobs, can individually slide on one main surface and the other main surface of the circuit board (for example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-92046).
In this related art, a cylindrical lever body is integrated with a shaft portion member extending in an axial direction, and a guide cylinder portion protruding from the shaft portion member passes through the cylindrical lever body and is loosely inserted into center holes of first and second rotating knobs. Further, a circuit board and an annular support member are fixed to the outer peripheral portion of a guide cylinder portion. The circuit board of them is disposed in the cylindrical lever body, and the annular support member is disposed between the first and second rotating knobs (at a position interposed between two rotating knobs) at the end of the cylindrical lever body in the axial direction. The annular support member supports the first rotating knob, which is positioned relatively closer to the end, so as to allow the first rotating knob to rotate, and supports the second rotating knob, which is positioned relatively closer to the base end, so as to allow the second rotating knob to rotate. Further, a shaft integrated with the first rotating knob is loosely inserted into the guide cylinder portion, and protrudes toward the base end in the axial direction. A contact holding plate is fixed to the protruding end portion of the shaft that faces the opening of the shaft portion member. A first movable contact, which comes into elastic contact with one main surface of the circuit board, is mounted on the contact holding plate. Accordingly, when the first rotating knob is rotated, the first movable contact comes into contact with and is separated from contact patterns provided on one main surface of the circuit board, so that the rotation direction and the rotation angle can be detected. Furthermore, a second movable contact, which comes into elastic contact with the other main surface of the circuit board, is mounted on the second rotating knob. Accordingly, when the second rotating knob is rotated, the second movable contact comes into contact with and is separated from contact patterns provided on the other main surface of the circuit board, so that the rotation direction and the rotation angle can be detected.
In the related art disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-92046, in appearance, the second rotating knob, the annular support member, and the first rotating knob are sequentially disposed side by side at the end portion of the cylindrical lever body and the cylindrical lever body and the annular support member are stationary members that cannot be rotated. Accordingly, a user can accurately rotate each of the rotating knobs. However, since contact patterns for two rotating knobs are separately provided on one main surface and the other main surface of the circuit board that is disposed in the cylindrical lever body, a shaft, which passes through the circuit board, is formed so as to protrude from on one rotating knob (first rotating knob) and a contact holding plate including a movable contact needs to be mounted on the protruding end portion of the shaft. For this reason, since the structure in this related art becomes complicated, there is a problem in that the number of components is increased and assemblability deteriorates. As a result, it has been difficult to reduce costs.